Pages

Wednesday, February 29, 2012

You have to be of a certain age to understand the sadness I felt this afternoon upon hearing of the death of Davy Jones. The short, cute, British one.

Truth be told, Mickey was always my favorite, but no one could argue with how cute and how talented Davy was. First there was Beatlemania, and then, Monkeemania.

My walls as a young girl were filled with pinups from Tiger Beat magazine - Mickey, Davy, George Harrison (my favorite was Ringo, but I switched to George once Ringo got married - all hope lost at an early age ;-) ), and Mark Lindsay (from Paul Revere and Raiders).

It was a different time. Music was mostly happy, or about broken hearts.

And for me, it's always been about the music. Melodies, harmonies - I always sang along, and if it had a good beat and we could dance to it, so much the better :-) My mom used to love to tell the story of me, in my playpen, dancing to American Bandstand. It's always been about the music . . .

Monkeemania swept the US and Britain. I can remember my friends and I playing "Monkees." I was always Mickey. Once we got the phonebook out and started random calling, taking a "Monkee Survey." We got hung up on repeatedly - and when my mom found out, she was not amused. Phone calls cost by the call back in the day.

They were really the first boy band - manufactured by NBC for a crazy sitcom that lasted only two seasons, but their music . . . it informed a generation. Here's the one you probably know the best.

The Monkees. More of the Monkees. The Birds, the Bees, & the Monkees. Headquarters. Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn & Jones Ltd. - I had them all . . .and have just downloaded a selection of my favorites from iTunes. Memories of days long gone.

Friday, February 24, 2012

I have learned that it takes TWO days to defrost the beans. I was going to have some for dinner last night with my chicken, but they were still frozen. So, I had them for breakfast with a flat omelet :-D The beans are very good - but I could add a little more spice to them. I used only about half the spice the recipe called for because I'm not big on hugely spicy dishes. But they could have a bit more. And I think that I should probably hand chop the veggies next time - I will try it next time I make them. That won't be for awhile, however, because I've got a 29-year supply in the freezer :-D

Hardly any snow fell here last night. We really dodged the bullet! Yay!!!

I'm looking forward to this weekend - lots of fun to be had :-) Friends over tomorrow for a hanging around kind of afternoon, and then Sunday, I'll be divesting more plants over at the Conservatory in Oak Park. I'm going to talk to the Windy City Gardeners! They are just the greatest group :-) They've invited me to speak every year - this is the third time, and it's always really good to see them.

Any of my violet friends out there - do any of you have experience with Aeschynanthus?

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Tonight I had some of the chicken that I did the Raspberry/Pineapple marinade for on Sunday.

It wasn't very good. My other marinade, with powdered salad dressing, olive oil and balsamic vinegar is much better. And, I still get tingly when I eat chicken. Usually it's just my face . . . but this time my arms also feel a little tingly. So bizarre. Anyway, I don't need to make this recipe again. It was a good try, though :-)

I really do miss chicken. I hardly ever eat it anymore . . . I'm wondering if I should give the rest that's frozen to my cousin. That might be a better plan.

My check-in is that I was down 4 pounds yesterday. That's even with the paczkis and waffles for Shrove Tuesday. :-) I did plan for those, however :-) Yay Me!!!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

My family history is rich in tradition. As I have mentioned before, I am a first-generation American. My mom was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. My grandfather was Roman Catholic, and my grandmother was Presbyterian . . . they left Ireland not long after my mom was born and came to Chicago - my grandfather coming through Ellis Island. He wrote back to my grandmother and said, "Don't come this way." And so, in late 1922 she and her sister and my uncle and my mom, came on a ship that steamed up what is now known as the St. Lawrence Seaway into the Great Lakes. Their port of entry was Detroit.

"I gave it up for Lent."

Today is Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Giving something up for Lent is thought of mainly as a Catholic tradition. I didn't know my grandfather - he died before I was born, and yet, his traditions were mixed with my grandmothers and so I grew up wth the best of both :-) I'm Presbyterian - and Presbyterians observe the season of Lent - the 40 or so days before Easter. It is a time of reflection, moderation, and spiritual discipline.

When I say that I've given something up for Lent, most people ask me if I'm Catholic. And when I respond that I'm not, they ask why I'm giving something up. All I can tell you is that I always have. I grew up with it somehow - and it builds character. That's how I always think of it.

This year, I'm giving up bread and deep-fried food. Since I don't eat much deep-fried food to begin with, the second would seem to be rather frivolous. However, I was going to give up chips and realized that that would encompass kale chips, which was not part of the plan. Deep-fried foods for me mean potato chips (I suppose I could eat baked ones, but I don't like them and they have chemicals in them anyway so I see no reason to start eating them now), corn chips, falafel, and fried chicken. It also means the fish sandwich at McDonald's. It's a rare occasion when I go to McDonald's (seriously rare), but the occasional fish sandwich is my poison of choice when I do).

Why two things? Again, tradition. It seems like I've always chosen two things, and they are most often foods. Plus, two give me two chances to be successful :-)

Yesterday was Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday), and I had Eggo waffles (they were easier than pancakes - so shoot me, I'm busy). And I had two Paczkis. I have to say that I don't think I ever have to have another Paczki. I don't really like donuts to begin with, and so it's really no surprise that they were not the treat I was hoping for. My tastes are so common :-D I would have much preferred a cupcake. Give me a cupcake with frosting from the Jewel any day (but not until after Easter :-) ). I did plan for this with my WW points, so I'm hoping for a loss today on the scale - although having all that sugar yesterday could thwart that hope. We'll see, and I'll let you know :-)

Sunday, February 19, 2012

I made the scallops for dinner last night. They were good, but I like my own recipe for them better than the one in the WW cookbook - still, they were yummy :-)

Lasagna is in the oven and has about 10 more minutes to go.

I should have soaked the beans over night, but instead started them about7 or 8 a.m. They soaked for 8 hours - more, actually, and they are now simmering. Thank goodness for my Cuisineart for all the veggies I had to chop up today. I've had it since about 1980, and it's still going strong. That's two onions, two green peppers, and spices. I only used 3T of olive oil instead of the 4 the recipe called for.

This morning I made the raspberry/pineapple marinade for the chicken, and it's been in the fridge all day. Once I actually eat a piece of lasagna for dinner, I'm going to parcel the chicken out into 2-serving portions and freeze it. It looks sort of gross . . .

The beans . . . well, they are cooking. I'm giving them another half an hour or so, and then adding the veg. They'll have to cook another hour after that, so since I'm going to the gym early tomorrow morning, I need to get to bed at a reasonable time. So, I'm going to let them cool, I guess, and put them in the fridge overnight and freeze them tomorrow night. There's only so much raw food a side-by-side freezer can take at one time and remain somewhat constant in temperature :-)

I just inventoried the stuff going to the Second Chance Shop and it's in the in the car.

There is always a bag going here for the Second Chance Shop :-)

I have two recipes picked out to cook this weekend and freeze. I'm going to try Linda's Black Beans, and I'm going to make my lasagna, which I already know freezes well. Then I'm picking one chicken recipe from the Don't Panic book, so I have some in the freezer. And I want to make some more of Linda's Refrigerator Pickled Beets. They are SO GOOD, and I need a beet fix. I also found a really good recipe for some scallops in one of my WW cookbooks, and I'm hoping to try it this week, too.

The one thing that I don't like from the recipes in the Don't Panic book, is that you have to remember to take the stuff out of the freezer to completely defrost in your fridge before you can cook it. I'm wondering if there is a way to just put stuff from the freezer directly to the oven if I forget some night to pull something out for the next day. Well, I won't be eating frozen stuff every night anyway :-)

Friday, February 17, 2012

I was up 2.6 on Wednesday. After last week's big loss, that's not really surprising. And I ate very salty food for both lunch and dinner the day before. Still - stopping this little roller coaster of up/down is high on my list. I'm working on that this week. Managed to plan a whole day of food yesterday - and I stuck to it. Yay Me!!! And these books came in the mail yesterday.

I did a little reading of the first Don't Panic one, and it's talking about doubling and tripling recipes - however, I figure that since I'm just one person, a regular recipe is already double or triple what I need, so I shouldn't have any trouble :-)

I've got a great bean recipe from Linda the Chicken Lady (the link is in her comment on my last post), so I'm definitely going to try them - I love black beans! Anything that Linda advises I will probably like because she and I have pretty similar likes/dislikes in food. We both avoid tomatoes and we both love lima beans and beets :-D

Part of the reason I'm planning so carefully this week is that Shrove Tuesday is coming (also known as Fat Tuesday). In my family, that always meant pancakes for dinner. It will probably be Eggos for me this year (unless I go out at lunchtime and have some pancakes for lunch), but still, I would like to have them, and I plan on using a lot of my weekly points for them, and for a Paczki (which is pronounced "poonch key"), which is a special sort of Polish jelly donut (could be jelly, could be butter cream, could be cheese, could be jelly and cheese - you get the picture :-D). Paczki's are everywhere here in Chicagoland at this time of year :-)

I'm considering giving up bread and chips for Lent (again, in my family, even though we are not Catholic, we always gave something up for Lent). I will let you know what I decide.

I quit with the Stevia in the Raw. It just was not doing it for me and I decided I'd count the point for the sugar I really like in my green tea and limit myself to one cup a day.

On a more somber note, can I just say that I'm tired of having to knit chemo hats? I don't understand why so many people I know have cancer right now. It's making me sad and not a little angry that those I care about are seriously ill. I just made two for a friend in December and January, and have one now on the needles for another friend and yet another in line after that :-(

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

I've been struggling these past few days. Don't know if it's too much going on, or if I'm just not getting enough sleep. Not eating enough vegetables could also be a factor. Is it the weather? After the mildest winter I can remember, it's finally cold here. Whatever it is, I couldn't walk yesterday morning (although I did go out at lunch and got a couple of miles in walking around the block over and over), and I just couldn't walk this morning.

I'm out of balance again, and I'm too pooped to pop (thanks, Mom, for that one :-D). I know what to do. I really do know what to do, so why am I not doing it consistently?

That's the question, isn't it? I know what to do - why am I not doing it all day, every day? Woman cannot survive on PB&J day after day after day . . . probably I shouldn't have bought the peanut butter, but I thought I'd see how I did with it. I'm not buying it again for quite some time.

Planning. Meal planning. I've never really done it. I think about it a lot . . . maybe it's time to actually DO it. That's the challenge . . . Recipes usually have four to six servings and eleventy million ingredients, and four to six means I'm eating the same thing over and over until it's gone. That's how come I can't eat much poultry anymore. I ate it over and over until my body said, "Enough!!"

And you know, I'm gone from my home 10 hours a day. By the time I get home, I'm usually hungry, and I'm wiped from the day, and I just want to grab whatever is easiest and quickest. For the past week, that's been peanut butter and jelly. And lunch has been chili from the deli downstairs from my office (at least there are some veggies in it :-) ).

And really, A - whine much? What a load of EXCUSES. This is not good. It's not best for me and my body is telling me so in no uncertain terms.

I'm a grown up. I know how to cook. I have a file of recipes that I've been collecting since the first time I got married.

And, I'm an exceptional planner. I even have all the 10-hour crock pot recipes marked in the crock pot cookbooks, see :-)

Are you seeing what's coming? Alrighty then. The game is on. I've talked about this before (probably not here, but I think about it alot ;-D): I want to find some recipes that I will like that will freeze well and be easily reheated. And some that are fast and easy to make and taste awesome. No tomatoes, no turkey, no chocolate. Chicken is OK as long as I can freeze the portions so I'm not eating it more than once or twice a week, tops.

Got any ideas/recipes to share that fit those parameters? :-) Anyone know of a really good book about freezing stuff?

I think I have my weekend cut out for me.

Thankfully, tonight I'm having dinner with my sister-in-law at her club. This means I will have an exceptionally good dinner that someone else made :-) I'm looking forward to it.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

I got a call this morning from a friend of mine, Jamie the Yarn Snob. (She doesn't blog much anymore, but you never know, she might start up again ;-) )

She was calling to thank me for writing last week about my annual physical. More specifically, she was calling to thank me for mentioned the ocular migraine I had a number of years ago that led me to start having annual physicals . . .

I wrote that post last Saturday, February 4th. The description of my ocular migraine symptoms resonated with her, and she made an appointment with her eye doc. Saw him on Friday, February 10th . . . and had surgery early yesterday morning to repair one of her retinas and do some preventative work on the other.

Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ . . .

Before we go further, you should know that Jamie is OK and is home, recovering nicely from surgery.

But here's the deal: She told me she'd been having the flashing light sensation for awhile in the bottom corner of her vision and the occasional sensation of pressure, but her regular doctor didn't think it was serious. When she read my post, she decided to go to the eye doctor. She had no other symptoms and was still seeing 20/20. They would have operated on her immediately had there not been a scheduling issue - instead, they took her in the next morning and she had outpatient surgery on both eyes. The good news is that her retina had not actually torn. They were able to fix what was going on, and did some preventative Lasik on her other eye. They checked on her again this morning and so far, so good.

Have you been to your eye doctor in the last year? I think it's human nature to avoid doctors unless we are really sick. But the older I get, the more I find this to be true: Just because you don't know you have an illness (like cancer) or a chronic condition (like high blood pressure or asthma) doesn't mean that everything is fine.

Jamie is a healthy, 35-year-old woman. Her blood pressure is normal. Her vision was still 20/20. She had no other symptoms of anything wonky with her retinas except for the flashing light part, and from what she told me on the phone, it was not as dramatic as mine was.

It is our right to love ourselves, right here, right now, wherever we are on our respective paths, and seeing your doctor(s) for all the annual stuff is part of that love. It is our responsibility to care for ourselves - we are all we've got.

I told you all that this year I would be chronicling my life through this blog. Women's health is something that I feel very strongly about, so . . .

::::::stepping up to the soapbox::::::::

My friends, if you haven't had a physical in the past year, please schedule one. If you haven't had your annual mammogram and pap smear, call your gynecologist and schedule an annual exam. If you haven't been to the eye doctor in the last year, get on the horn and get set up. If you're 50, have you had a colonoscopy yet (they don't hurt)? What are you waiting for?

Yes, you DO have the time. There are free clinics if you are uninsured. And you are so, so worth it. We are meant to live our lives as best we can. We are meant to be healthy and strong. We are meant to do those things that make our hearts sing - and we cannot do any of these things if we do not take care of ourselves.

Jamie is an artist. She has a degree in fine art and fiber art from one of the most prestigious art schools in the country (if not the world). She works in an industry that utilizes her ability to see and evaluate art every single day. What would her life be like if she had ignored her intuition about her eye and possibly lost some (maybe all?) of her sight?

What would your life be like if you lost yours . . .?

I am so thankful I wrote that post last weekend. I am so thankful that Jamie read and recognized something in that post that prompted her to investigate further. I am so thankful that she's going to be OK.

I'm on the soapbox so strongly because it has been my experience that many women ignore their health. They operate on the "no news is good news" principle. I know, because I used to be one of them. I scheduled an annual OB/GYN visit every year, and had a mammogram, but that was it. I didn't see why I should spend money every year when there was nothing wrong with me.

Well - like I said before, just because you don't know about something doesn't mean that it's not there. The first year I had my physical, I found about about my high triglycerides. This year, I can see from my test results that I have a little work to do in that area and the cholesterol area again.

I went to the opthamologist this past year because I had Lasik eye surgery back in 1997 and I'm supposed to get checked out every five years or so - but also because I have a cousin only two years older than I who had cataracts last year. I found out that I have a cataract forming in my left eye. The doc said it's nothing serious, just to watch it and be aware of the symptoms of it worsening. Probably won't have to do anything about it until I'm in my 70's, but I'm aware of it, and I know what to watch for.

I am so, so grateful that I'm healthy and strong. I plan to keep it that way to the best of my ability, and the ability of the awesome doctors I'm so lucky to call "mine." My internist. My gynecologist. My opthamologist and my optometrist. My dentist. My podiatrist.

Make the call.

:::::::::stepping off the soapbox::::::::

OK done now . . . for now ;-)

In other news of the day- these plants are going to their new home today :-) Mostly baby violets, one Episcia (the pink thing in the bag), and some leaf cuttings from both violets and streptocarpus. Yay! That's a lot of stuff off my shelves, and almost all of it duplicates!

And I was saddened to hear of the death of Whitney Houston at the age of 48. No cause of her death has been released, and frankly, it's nobody's business. There's a lot of speculation about drugs and addiction - but no one knows anything for sure. Me, I'm thinking her heart just couldn't keep going.

One of my favorites of hers, back in the 80's, when she seemed so beautiful, so happy, so talented, so everything . . . Rest in Peace, Whitney.

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

The good news today is that the scale reflected my work this week - I was down 6.6. So, I'm close to being back where I was in Mid-January before my week of ridiculous choices. Yay Me!

The other news is that I've realized the more healthily I eat, the more I pay for it when I don't Case in point: I ate bacon over the weekend and on Monday - that Hormel stuff that you can just put right in the microwave (OK - totally processed and not my usual choice . . . ) and I was in agony yesterday. I mean, everything hurt.

Inflammation. Let me follow up.

I asked my doc about inflammation last Friday after my appointment with him. Here's part of the text of my email to him:

I have been thinking about inflammation ever since I left your office this morning. I've been seeing what I can find about it online. None of the information I'm finding seems to have any basis in anything, and most sites I find want to sell me something . . . which is not necessarily a bad thing, but I already take a multi-vitamin and a ton of Vitamin D. if I can lessen inflammation in my body in ways that don't involve more pills, I am very interested to know how.

Somehow I think sugar is probably involved, because when I eat too much of it, my joints hurt. I think a lot of things - I think exercise might help - and I think maybe if I was smaller, that might make a difference, too - but I'm not sure.

I don't like thinking/feeling that there is inflammation in my body, making me hurt whenever it feels like it. Is there a reputable book you would recommend I read? Are supplements advisable or is a different diet a better way to go? Is there some reputable program of some sort I should look into? I seriously want to know about this, because I think there must be inflammation in a number of areas of my body besides my knees and tailbone - I mean, I have asthma, and that's about inflammation, I had plantar fasciitis for two years and that's about inflammation, and my mother had three different kinds of arthritis (which is all about inflammation and which I would very much like to avoid).

Here's what he said back:

In reading your message I would have to tell you that you have hit the nail on the head regrading inflammation. It is felt to be part of alot of disorders, but no clear understanding on how to manage it.

Best answer I can give you in the short term are things you are already doing: regular exercise, stress reduction and healthy eating. While there is a belief that foods that are high in antioxidants can help( i.e. beets, spinach, pomegranate), there is no conclusive evidence

So - I'm all happy that I'm already doing a lot of the stuff I should be. I'm also all happy that I really like BEETS!!! and spinach and pomegranates :-)
So, what's this got to do with bacon and my hurting everywhere yesterday? Well, I did a little more checking online and found Dr. Andrew Weil's website. He is quite well known. albeit somewhat controversial. Whatever. :-) Here is his Anti-Inflammatory food pyramid. I share it because I found it to be interesting, and really, it's pretty much what we all already know, and also what I'm already working on doing with Weight Watchers. Yay Me Again!

It appears to me that no one really knows what to do about inflammation - but if we all keep doing the best we can to take good care of ourselves, then I think we're on the right track.

The BACON, A. What's with the bacon? Sorry - I got sidetracked. It's the only thing I ate over the weekend that I don't normally eat - so it makes sense to me that it was what caused all my joints to hurt yesterday. I'm much better today. I won't be having bacon again anytime soon. It's just amazing to me that my body is sending these clear signals about what is best for it - and what isn't. I just need to keep listening.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

I think that must be key, because I am just wiped out and I haven't been getting enough vegetables in the past three or four days.

After the warmest winter I can remember, it's cooling off here in the Chicagoland this week. Still in the mid to upper 30's, but we're nearly halfway through February, and have not had much snow that sticks.

Sunday, February 5, 2012

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Yes, I have one every year. I never used to, but in 2008, I had a one-off incidence of something called an ocular migraine, which is, essentially, a migraine without any pain, just flashing lights and such. I thought maybe I had torn my retina (the symptoms can be similar). The eye doc said I needed to have a physical, and I sort of - well, not sort of - I did ignore him. He asked about my blood pressure, which was fine.

I thought about it a little more, and had a friend who is a nurse take my blood pressure - which was fine, and she was curious as to why I was asking about it - I told her about the ocular migraine, and she said, "you need to have a physical."

:-S

I asked why, and when she said that an ocular migraine can also be a symptom of a mini-stroke, I thought again. As mentioned before, strokes and heart stuff run in my family . . . I decided I had better find an internal medicine doc. I did. He's awesome. I had a brain MRI. The good news was that I do, indeed, have a brain ;-D And the better news was that there was no evidence of any stroke of any sort. I've never had to have another brain MRI, but ever since, I have an annual physical.

So yesterday I had my annual physical, and they do all the results and stuff online now, so I got them back today (that's pretty awesome!). Everything's fine and dandy. Except I sort of think I could do better in the cholesterol area. My cholesterol is 221. The doc says that it's OK (I think because my HDL is pretty high (which is good)), but I'm thinking that I would like to see my total number below 200.

I went back over my test results for the past five years, and I think it's really important to work with your doctor on this stuff because they explain things better than just reading a report. Although I think my current numbers are higher than I would like, my doctor assures me that I'm OK - and I think that means that the healthier I get, the better these numbers are going to look.

In 2008, my cholesterol was 181. Sounds better than now at 221. But there were some bad things, mainly my triglycerides.

Triglycerides (that's the amount of fat/sludge in the blood) were 242 (that's REALLY high)
HDL (that's the good cholesterol) was 39 (which is too low)
LDL (that's the bad one) was 94 (which was really good)

Within the year, I got my triglycerides down to 129 (that was way better), and my total cholesterol down to 177, which was pretty good, but my HDL was still low, and LDL too high.

By 2010, my total cholesterol was 211 - triglycerides were steady, and I'd gotten my HDL up to 50, but the LDL was still too high.

Last year, my total cholesterol was 209 - and my triglycerides had climbed to 167. HDL was low again, and LDL still too high :-D

So, I think I have some work to do, and it can all be accomplished by the choices I make every day in terms of the food I put in my mouth and the amount of exercise I get. I'm going to see what I can do for next year's check :-)

One other thing we talked briefly about, was inflammation. I have concerns . . . I'm doing some research and I'll let you know what I find.

p.s. Stevia in the Raw does have a sort of aftertaste. It's not horrible, though.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Well - my first month of better health and shrinkage did not go quite as spectacularly as I might have hoped. :-S

Due to my mishap last week, I show a net loss of 1 pound for January. The details are on my Stats page. I'm still sticking with my goal of 25-30 pounds by my birthday - we'll see how February goes before making any adjustments there.

However, there is some joy in Mudville. I did lose .6 yesterday, which is better than nothing. And, yesterday my blood pressure was 110/60. Yay Me!! I don't have a problem with blood pressure, but my mom did, and heart and stroke stuff runs in my family. So that's part of why I've made this year Get Healthy or Go Home.

50 minutes on the treadmill this morning, and I re-read my WW books last night when I should have been sleeping :-D I'm considering a week of Simply Filling (similar to the old CORE method). Not this week, but perhaps the following. We'll see.

I did get a Yoga DVD in three time this month, which is pretty good.

I've had a month to settle in - and I can see now that traveling often tosses me off kilter. Interestingly enough, my Cape trip was probably the longest trip I have scheduled. I'm sticking relatively close to home most of this year, and I think that's going to be a good thing - giving me time to concentrate on what's best for me.

About Me

I'm gloriously unfinished - every day is an adventure on my journey of health and wellness. There is knitting on the way, but most important is this: Life is short, so dance like no one's watching. I'm glad you stopped by and hope you'll keep coming back :-)